Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

This week the bitcoin mining company Genesis Digital Assets announced that the firm has secured 708 megawatts (MW) in capacity and revealed plans to create 130 full-time jobs in the United States. The chief operating officer at Genesis, Andrey Kim, said the firm has been pleased with “the pace” of the bitcoin mining company’s U.S. expansion. Genesis Digital Assets U.S. Expansion Gathers 708 MW of Power On Wednesday, Genesis Digital Assets revealed it has acquired 708 MW of capacity as the firm’s U.S. expansion continues. Presently, Genesis mines bitcoin in four locations in Texas, three locations in South Carolina, and one location in North Carolina. During the first half of 2022, Genesis secured the 708 MW from the Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina regions. The company said the expansion will create 130 full-time jobs and roughly 495 construction jobs for the local communities. “Every day, we are given a chance to create meaningful and lasting relationships by creating j...

Crypto exchange Hotbit has announced the suspension of trading, deposits, withdrawals, and funding on its platform. The exchange said law enforcement has frozen some of its funds and subpoenaed some senior managers as they investigate a criminal case involving the exchange’s former employee. Hotbit Suspends Trading, Deposits, Withdrawals Cryptocurrency exchange Hotbit announced the suspension of its services on Wednesday. The company wrote: We regret to inform you that Hotbit will have to suspend trading, deposit, withdrawal and funding functions. The exact time of resumption cannot be determined at the moment. The exchange detailed that the reason for the suspension is because a former management employee is suspected of violating criminal laws. The employee left Hotbit in April. Unbeknownst to the exchange, he was involved in a project last year that was in violation of the company’s internal practice, the announcement details. Law enforcement has subpoenaed a number of Hotb...

The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, has launched a spot bitcoin private trust. “Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients,” said Blackrock. Blackrock Launches Bitcoin Trust Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, has launched “Blackrock bitcoin private trust.” According to a Thursday blog post, the spot bitcoin private trust, available to U.S. institutional clients, seeks to track the performance of BTC , less expenses and liabilities of the trust. The asset management firm detailed: Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access these assets using our technology and product capabilities. “Bitcoin is the oldest, largest, and most liquid cryptoasset, and is currently the primary subject of interest from our clients within the cryptoasset space,” th...

Authorities in Uzbekistan are restricting access to online crypto trading platforms based outside the country and not registered under its laws. A presidential decree obliges citizens and local companies to only use digital asset exchanges licensed by the government of the Central Asian nation. Uzbekistan Takes Steps to Prevent Crypto Trading and Custody on Foreign Platforms Uzbekistan’s National Agency of Perspective Projects ( NAPP ) has registered a spike in activities of online platforms providing crypto-related services to Uzbekistanis without the necessary license. The regulatory body says these facilitate trading of cryptocurrencies and request personal information without complying with a requirement to have their servers installed in the country. In a recent statement , the agency pointed out that such platforms “do not bear any legal responsibility for carrying out operations with crypto assets, cannot guarantee the legitimacy of transactions, as well as the proper storag...

Bank of England’s analysts say crypto assets could have important roles within the metaverse. “Widespread adoption of crypto in the metaverse … would require compliance with robust consumer protection and financial stability regulatory frameworks,” they added. Bank of England’s Analysts on the Metaverse, Crypto, and Regulation Bank of England’s economist Owen Lock and policy analyst Teresa Cascino published a blog post titled “Cryptoassets, the metaverse and systemic risk” Tuesday. “Cryptoassets could have important roles within the metaverse,” they began, cautioning: If an open and decentralized metaverse grows, existing risks from cryptoassets may scale to have systemic financial stability consequences. “Widespread adoption of crypto in the metaverse, or any other setting would require compliance with robust consumer protection and financial stability regulatory frameworks,” they stressed. Lock and Cascino explained that “The open metaverse will require a means with which to...

PRESS RELEASE. ReadON ( readon.me ), a company that aims to provide users with a brand-new content consumption experience by utilizing blockchain, completed its seed investment round of $2M led by SevenX Ventures. Other investors included HashKey Capital, Foresight Ventures, Sky9 Capital, ArkStream Capital, Puzzle Ventures, CyberConnect, M23 Fund, Smrti Lab and individual investors. The seed funding will be used to develop a ReadON mobile application and a decentralized recommendation system. Neo Y., Cofounder and CEO of ReadON, is a serial entrepreneur who founded a games and applications company that made over 500K DAU, $10 million in revenue in 2020. Neo previously worked as the Director of Product at Qutoutiao (NASDAQ: QTT) , responsible for designing the best Play2Earn product in China with 30M daily active users. Troy H., Co-founder and CTO of ReadON, was formerly the senior technology manager at ByteDance. Prior to that, Troy was a senior tech lead at Pinterest (NYSE: PI...

On August 9, a firm that uses landfill methane to fuel bitcoin miners, Vespene Energy, announced the company has raised $4.3 million in a funding round led by Polychain Capital. Vespene aims to use the funds for its pilot in California by using landfill methane to mine bitcoin and “mitigate a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.” Vespene Energy Raises $4.3M in Funding Round Led by Polychain Capital, Firm Aims to Give Landfill Owners the Ability to Monetize Landfill Methane Vespene Energy announced that the company has raised $4.3 million from a financing round led by Polychain Capital. According to the company’s website , the startup converts landfill methane into bitcoin value with no grid connections or pipeline buildout. Vespene essentially installs onsite data centers powered by micro-turbines, getting energy from municipal landfills’ methane. It gives landfill owners the ability to monetize their landfill methane, “reducing routine flaring and maintenance costs,” Vespe...

President Joe Biden stated Wednesday that the U.S. economy had zero percent inflation in July following the latest CPI report. “Biden is claiming that we saw zero percent inflation last month. But there’s a zero percent chance that’s the case. Inflation in July was 8.5%, which is still a 40-year high,” said a lawmaker. Biden’s Zero Inflation Comment and Responses On Wednesday, President Joe Biden publicly stated that the U.S. economy had 0% inflation in July after the latest consumer price index (CPI) report was released. “Before I begin today, I want to say a word about the news that came out today relative to the economy,” Biden began. “Actually, I just want to say a number: zero.” The president added: Today, we received news that our economy had zero percent inflation in the month of July. Zero percent. The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, similarly stated on Twitter: “We just received news that our economy had 0% inflation in July. While the price of some t...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says “the more regulation there is for crypto, the better it is for Coinbase.” He revealed an inquiry from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), noting: “We do not yet know if this inquiry will become a formal investigation.” Coinbase’s CEO on Crypto Regulation The CEO of Coinbase Global (Nasdaq: COIN), Brian Armstrong, discussed his company’s performance and cryptocurrency regulation during Coinbase’s Q2 earnings call Tuesday. Coinbase’s revenue declined almost 64% in the second quarter. The company reported a $1.1 billion net loss, compared with $1.59 billion in net income in the same quarter last year. “Q2 was a test of durability for crypto companies and a complex quarter overall,” Coinbase said in its latest letter to shareholders. Regarding cryptocurrency regulation, Armstrong detailed: “We’ve been pleased to see the progress recently both in the U.S. and in countries around the world toward more clear legislation for crypto. In the ...

When non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles became popular, the fractionalized NFT market grew past the $200 million range seven months ago in December 2021. Since then, the fractionalized NFT market has lost more than 76% in value, dropping to an overall market capitalization of around $50 million. Fractional NFT Market Value Slides From $212 Million to $50 Million The fractionalized NFT market followed alongside the sizable growth the entire NFT industry saw last year. At its height in December 2021, the overall fractionalized NFT market valuation was approximately $212.6 million , according to metrics recorded by dappradar.com. Today, the value has evaporated by 76.41% , as the current fractionalized NFT market capitalization is roughly $50,401,068. Over seven months ago on Sunday, December 12, 2021, the largest fractionalized NFT project market valuation belonged to the Doge NFT (DOG) with a $130.14 million market cap. Today, the Doge fractionalized NFT project is still the top...

Authorities in Kazakhstan have launched an investigation into a mining hotel business suspected of being a crypto pyramid as part of an ongoing crackdown on illegal activities linked to cryptocurrencies. The platform, called Bincloud, lured investors through popular messaging apps. Bincloud Operators Kept 16% of Investors’ Funds for Themselves Amid intensified efforts to fight crypto-related fraud, Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency has initiated a pre-trial investigation into a crypto mining business allegedly working as a financial pyramid scheme. It’s led by the watchdog’s department in the West Kazakhstan region, the FMA announced, quoted by Russian crypto media. The people behind the Bincloud mining hotel were recruiting investors through the Whatsapp and Telegram messengers, convincing them to put money into the project offering mining equipment rental. As a reward, they were promised to get back 5 to 6% of the invested amount daily. The fraudsters withheld 16% of the ...

Thailand is reportedly preparing to amend its law on digital assets to tighten the oversight of the crypto sector and empower the Thai central bank to oversee the sector. “Right now, the central bank has no room to enter into the regulatory framework except for notifying that cryptos are not a legal means of payment for goods and services,” said the Thai finance minister. Thai Central Bank Will Help Regulate Crypto Industry Thailand is reportedly planning to amend its law on digital assets to tighten the oversight of the crypto sector, particularly trading platforms. Thai Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith explained that the planned amendments to the country’s crypto regulations will “bring the central bank to be part of it,” Bloomberg reported Tuesday. He added that the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been asked to lead the regulatory overhaul. Under the current rules passed in 2018, the securities watchdog has the sole mandate to supervise the crypto ind...

Iran has placed its first official import order using cryptocurrency worth $10 million, according to a government official. “By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” the official added. Iran Uses Crypto to Place Import Order Iran placed its first official import order for $10 million worth of goods in cryptocurrency this week. Alireza Peymanpak, vice minister of Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade and president of the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), announced via Twitter Tuesday (translated by Google): This week, the first official import order was successfully placed with cryptocurrency worth 10 million dollars. “By the end of September, the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts will be widespread in foreign trade with target countries,” his tweet further reads. Iran has been contemplating allowing the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for imports for over a yea...

On Tuesday, the bitcoin mining company Cleanspark announced it acquired a plug-in-ready bitcoin mining facility that is scalable to 86 megawatts (MW) of capacity. Presently, the newly opened site in Washington, Georgia, has 36 megawatts, which is expected to give Cleanspark’s hashrate a 38% boost this quarter. Publicly-Listed Bitcoin Miner Cleanspark Expands Operations in Georgia After Cleanspark Inc. (Nasdaq: CLSK ) revealed last month that it acquired 1,061 bitcoin miners at a “discounted price,” the company announced it has acquired a new facility in Washington, the county seat of Wilkes County, Georgia. The new facility has the capacity to host up to 86 MW and Cleanspark purchased the facility for $16.2 million. The mining firm also bought 3,400 Antminer S19 mining rigs for $8.9 million. The Antminer rigs are currently in operation with 340 petahash per second (PH/s) of hashpower. “[Cleanspark] will fill the balance of the 36 MW with machines already paid for and on hand,” Tu...

At one point in every crypto enthusiast’s life he or she has envisioned buying their dream mansion, with Bitcoin. What was once a fantasy is now a reality with the listing of this exquisite, ultra modern, 2-story, 5-bedroom mansion in the heart of the Caribbean. A life of Paradise in a Caribbean Hidden Valley This unique luxury property is being sold through ArroyoLaRue Realty , and is nestled in the stunning “Hidden valley” of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Situated in the serene Valle Escondido Estates of Guaynabo . The Idyllic, luscious landscape offers a sense of privacy with beautiful natural resources right on its doorstep and the center of San Juan metro only a short drive away. With the sale of this listing the lucky buyer will acquire not just a stunning, unique property in a tropical location, but a lifestyle and tax benefits befitting that of one of the celebrities that live just a stone’s throw away. Let’s get into it! Opening the Door: A Look Inside the Dream Mansion The ...

Following the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) banning Tornado Cash and a number of associated Ethereum-based addresses, an anonymous Tornado Cash user has dusted a swathe of well known wallets tied to ENS domain names. Onchain data shows that a number of celebrities and organizations received 0.1 ether from the platform. Blockchain explorers indicate Linkin Park’s Steve Aoki, Youtuber Logan Paul, the Ukraine Crypto Donations address, comedian Jimmy Fallon, the sneaker company Puma, and rap star Snoop Dogg are among the recipients. Celebs and Well Known Organizations Receive 0.1 Ether From the Tornado Cash Platform Things got interesting following the recent United States government ban against the ethereum ( ETH ) mixer Tornado Cash after a number of well known organizations and celebrities received funds from the sanctioned platform. The organizations and celebrity addresses are public knowledge because many of them purchased Ethereum Name Service...

According to an igaming expert, Keane Ecclestone, crypto casinos are increasingly popular with bettors that value their privacy and security. While some perceive crypto casinos to be riskier than traditional online gambling platforms, Ecclestone believes bettors can play safely by choosing casinos that avail their licensing information. Bettors can also minimize risks by choosing crypto casinos that have several positive reviews, Ecclestone added. Crypto Casinos vs Traditional Online Gambling Sites Crypto casinos, just like many other services or innovative products that came to life courtesy of the growing use of cryptocurrencies, have seen the number of people using them grow. There are several reasons why bettors are flocking to online gambling sites and many of these reasons have to do with the shortcomings of traditional casinos. Despite having clear advantages, crypto casinos do have their shortcomings which potentially increase risks for users. The perception that online cry...